Improved steam marine ram



UNITEn STATES PATENT Ormes.

RICHARD J. GATLING, OF INDINAPOLIS, INDIANA.

IMPROVED STEAM MARINE RAM.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,402, dated September9, 1852; antedated June 16, 1862.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD J. GATLING, of Indianapolis, county ofMarion, inthe State of Indiana, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Steam Var-Vessels; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full and exact description thereof, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, inwhich--y Figure lis a sideelevation of the bow or forward portion of theship. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of same. Fig. 3 is atransverse section on line X Y, Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a top View ofone of the metal shields that incases and protects the bow or forwardportion ofthe vessel as well as forming the prow or ram, and also one ofthe iron ties and the lateral bolts that are used to secure the shieldsto the bow of the ship.

The nature of my invention consists in so arranging the frame-timbersand constructing the hull of a steam warvessel as that it will be ofgreat strength and capable of resisting concussion, and in providinginvulnerable metal shields as a covering for its bow,which shields alsofrom the eut-water or prow into a ram of such immense strength that itmay be driven into other vessels without injury, and being ot'sueh formthat it will not be liable to become entangled with an ant-agonist.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to deA scribe it.

I construct thehull of my ship by laying the keel t in the ordinaryway;but instead of placing the rib-timbers b b as usual I place them side byside, touching each other from bow to stern, and dowel pinning them together, as also the upper and lower deck trans verse frame-timbers c andd and vertical timbers t t', halving them into each other at all pointswhere they cross, thus binding the eu tire frame-work all firmlytogether. The lower ends of the rib-timbers b b cross each other, beinghalved together, and rest on and form a Crotchet over the keel a, asshown in Fig. 3.

The rib-timbers b b may be crooked or made straight, as shown in thedrawings. A ship can be constructed of straight rib-timbers, asdescribed, so as to form agood model for speed; and a ship thus formedand modeled will be in every respect seaworthy. Vhen, however, straighttimbers are used for the ribs, the ship should be of greater breadth ot'beam than when huilt with curved ribs on the ordinary plan.

rlhe keelson is formed of heavy timbers h h h,laid the entirelengthofthe ship,1"1rmly bolted together and to the keel, and extends upto near the water-line, supporting the transverse `frametimbers d, andlower deck, the object of this construction ot' the keelson being togive great strength to the ship, especially longitudinally. A

The timbersjj J, Sac., which till in the angles .formed by theix'itersection of the ribs b b and upper and lower deck transverseframetimbers c and Z,extend the entire length of the ship, and aredesigned to give to it additional strength, as well as to prevent itssides from being crushed in by concussion by other vessels and to makeit impenetrable by shot.

The longitudinal timber 7i', Figs. 2 and 3, extends the entire lengthot' the ship and supports the upper-deck timbers c c, and is supportedby upright posts, as shown atl, Figs. 2 and 3. The ribs b I) andtransverse frametimbers c and d are covered with longitudinal plankingpp p p, die., above and below, which is spiked or bolted firmly together,as shown in the drawings.

rlhe bow or head of the ship is composed of a solid mass of timbers, o oo, Ste., Fig. 2, scarfed, keyed, and bolted firmly together. The ironties e e, &c., that secure the bowshieldsfff, the., are inserted amongthe timbers, as shown in Fig. 2, and serve to give greater strength andsolidity to the prow. A heavy iron bolt, g, passes through the forwardends of the ties e and shields f, holding all iirmly together. The tiesce, Ste., are secured among the timbers o o, tc., of the bow by bolts mm, Fig. 2.

The bowshieldsffff, dto., Figs. l and 2, a top view of one of which isrepresented in Fig. fi, are cast of gun-metal or forged of wroughtiron.These shields cover the entire bow of the ship, as shown atffff, 85e.,Fig. 1, and are secured thereto by the bolt g, which passes through themand the forward ends of ties e c e, dac., and also by lateral bolts a na n a n, as shown in the drawings. These bow-shields,

when combined and secured together as shown and described, form a prowor ram of immense strength, and when made of wrought iron should havetheir protruding portion which forms the prow or ram laid with steel.The entire external surface of the ship not other wise protected by themetal covering or shields is to be covered with armor-plates of anydesired thickness and secured to the planking by bolts, so as to giveadditional protection against shot. The gunwales are to be protected bystrong iron platess s,extending longitudinally throughout the entirelength ofthe ship. The armor-plates r (one only of which is shown) maybe placed transversely, as shown in Fig. l.

A ship constructed and protected as described and propelled by steamwill, I contidently believe, be able to crush in the hull of anyWar-\-'essel now in existence.

The forward portion of the head of the ship is sloped downward, as shownin the drawings, which will enable the ship to be easily extricated ordisentangled from an antagonist in the event of running her prow intoanother vessel, as the downward slope of her prow admits of easilybacking her out.

Aship constructed as herein described is not designed to carry guns, orat least not more than one or two, but is designed to be operated whollyas a ram propelled by steam, the object being to crush in the sides ofother ships by the crushing force of her weight and momentum.

As there should be no smoke-stacks extending much above the upperdeck,the supply of air to the furnaces and the ventilation of the shipshould be kept up by means of fans or air-pumps operated, especially intime of action,by independent engines or byhand-power.v

It would be well, also, to divide the hull of the ship into water -tightcompartments, so that in the event that one or more of them bepenetrated by shot or otherwise sprung aleak'the ship will still havesufficient buoyancy to float.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. Arranging and combining the ribs b b and transverse frame-timbers cand d and vertical frametimbers Z side by side, so as to form continuous bearings against each other anterioriy and posteriorly, the samebeing halved or dove tailed together at their crossings, whicharrangement allows the lower part-s of the ribtimbers to rest on andform a Crotchet over the keel, as shown in Fig. 3.

2. The or crotchet shaped metal bowshieldsfffffff, constructed,arranged, and

combined substantiallyY as described, for the uses .and purposes setforth.

RICHARD J. GATLING.

Witnesses:

O. F. MAYHEW, Y JAMES L. MITCHELL.

